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Serie A Weekly News Recap

The Serie A roster got completed last Sunday as Frosinone beat Palermo in the playoff final. The Rosanero lost their first appeal against the validation of the result as they believe there were some irregularities and promised to keep fighting. The Ciociari, whose promotion does not seem in danger, will play two games with closed doors because some objects were thrown onto the pitch and for time wasting by the ball boys.

There could be trouble in Parma, as the club has been deferred to the sports justice for attempted offence due to some text Emanuele Calaiò sent to some Spezia players ahead of the final and decisive game, inviting them not to play too hard. The club has been cited for “objective” responsibility, and not direct one and could receive some penalization point that could affected either the 2017/2018 Serie B standings, with all sorts of consequences, or the upcoming one, depending on if the sentence arrives before or after June 30th.

Serie A has announced the dates for next season: it will start on August 19th and end on May 26th. There will be three midweek rounds: on September 26th, on the Boxing day on December 26th and on April 3rd. The league will stop four times for international duties: on September 9th, on October 14th, on November 18th and on March 24th. The Winter break changes again and got extended: there will be no games on January 6th and January 13th. The Supercoppa will be played in January, the Coppa Italia final will take place on April 25th.

Switching to the World Cup, few Serie A players impressed: Dries Mertens found the target with a beautiful volley against Panama, Aleksandar Kolarov buried a magnificent free kick against Costa Rica and Mbaye Niangcashed in on a double blunder by Jan Bednarek and Wojciech Szczesny to score an open net goal. In a bizarre episode, Nikola Kalinic has been sent home after refusing to be subbed in the first game, alleging he was hurt.

Atalanta have signed Marco Tumminello, who has a big nose for the goal, but Roma will have a buy-back clause in the next two summers in case he explodes. Lazio have grabbed the left back Riza Durmisi from Real Betis. Cagliari have secured free agent fullback Darijo Srna.

Spal have announced a slew of permanent acquisitions after positive loan spells: Jasmin Kurtic and Alberto Paloschi from Atalanta, Federico Vivianifrom Verona and Bartosz Salamon from Cagliari; they have also bought Mo Fares from Hellas, which projects to be a very good contributor in their scheme next season. Bologna are reshaping their roster and announced three signigns the striker Federico Santander from Copenhagen and the goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski and the defender Arturo Calabresi from Roma.

Let’s close with a little Europa League news: unless Milan are excluded, and the verdict is expected to come by now and Monday, Atalanta will begin their journey in late July against either Banants or Sarajevo.